


sincerely, yours truly

by sunshineforthesoul



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters: Black 2 & White 2 | Pokemon Black 2 & White 2 Versions
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Fluff and Humor, Love Confessions, Love Letters, M/M, One Shot, Rosa is a meddler
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:27:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27314050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunshineforthesoul/pseuds/sunshineforthesoul
Summary: “Nate didn’t respond to my love letter.”Rosa peeks over his shoulder. “Well, I’m not surprised,” she scoffs, snatching the piece of paper out of his hand. “Who starts a love letter with ‘Yo dude’?”
Relationships: Hyuu | Hugh & Mei | Rosa, Hyuu | Hugh/Kyouhei | Nate
Comments: 6
Kudos: 50





	sincerely, yours truly

**Author's Note:**

> the prompt post that this was inspired by was deleted, but the dialogue from the post is: 
> 
> Person A: Person B didn't respond to my love letter.  
> Person C: I'm not surprised.  
> Person C: Who starts a love letter with 'yo dude'?

“Rosa! Rosa!” 

Rosa gives the Mareep a pat and lifts her carefully out of her lap. “Off you go dear,” she says, placing her onto the grass. She scampers away, towards the rest of the herd. 

Rosa picks up the brush, pulls the Mareep fluff out of it, and adds it to the comically huge mountain of fluff next to her. Once she stands, she sees Hugh running up the dirt road in what appears to be quite the hurry. 

“What’s up?” she calls out, yanking off her rubber gloves and dropping them onto the ground. 

Hugh stops at the wooden arch where “Floccesy Ranch” is neatly carved, breathing heavily. 

“Are you alright?” she asks, checking to make sure no Mareep are attempting to make a mad dash for the gate before she opens it and slides out. “What’s wrong?”

“I have a big problem,” Hugh answers in between gulps of air.

“And that is?” Rosa raises an eyebrow. Despite being the only one out of the three that isn’t an actor, Hugh’s known to be rather theatrical at times. Nate and Rosa always joke that he should call up Stu Deeoh and launch his acting career. (Hugh never finds it as funny as they do.)

“I think Nate likes Yancy.”

Rosa frowns. “You ran all the way here to update me on Nate’s romantic life?” 

“No,” Hugh groans. “It’s not that. It’s— ugh.” His face grows redder by the second, and Rosa can’t tell if it’s because of his physical exertion or something else. “I… I _like_ Nate.”

  


__

* * *

  


Hugh hadn’t known how Rosa would react. 

He’d thought that she might laugh at him or maybe she’d tell him that Nate had already confessed his feelings for him — that was more of a best case scenario— or something in between.

He hadn’t expected her to start making a plan.

As soon as the words leave his mouth, her face takes on a scheming expression. 

“Oh no,” Hugh says. “What’s happening? What’s going on with your face?”

“You’ve gotta tell him.”

Hugh recoils. “No way.”

Rosa sighs. “What, you want to wait until he goes on a date with her? What if they hold hands?” She gasps. “What if they _kiss?”_

“Ugh, I don’t even know why I bother with you.” Hugh turns and starts walking back towards Aspertia City. 

“Because you love me,” she teases. “And you love Nate too.”

“I would hardly call having a little crush on someone ‘being in love with them’.”

“That’s because you don’t get romance like I do.”

“Oh as if _your_ romantic life is so rich and full.”

“Who here’s the lead in the highest grossing romance film Love and Battles?” Hugh rolls his eyes. “I’m just kidding Hugh, smile for once. Your face is gonna get stuck like that.” She elbows him lightly in the side. “I’m just saying you have nothing to lose by being honest and telling him how you feel.”

“What about, oh I don’t know, an eighteen year friendship?”

“Psh.” Rosa flicks her wrist. “Nothing could separate the three of us. We’ve survived worse.”

“I’d never be able to look at him again.”

“That’s so dramatic.”

“I don’t think it is.”

“I’ll help you,” Rosa says. “I promise! Nate and I are like this.” She crosses her first two fingers. “I know how you can really win him over.”

Hugh closes his eyes, knowing he’s signing his death wish with these next words. “Fine,” he huffs. “Let’s figure something out.”

  


__

* * *

  


_I can’t believe I agreed to this,_ Hugh thinks for the millionth time as he helps Rosa push her couch back to create space in the living room.

“Please, take a seat,” she says, gesturing to the couch. “I’ll be right back.”

He collapses onto the cushions. Rosa’s Stoutland wanders over, looking to get his head scratched. Hugh obliges, enjoying the feeling of Stoutland’s smooth, silky fur, and checks his Xtransceiver. 

_Areceus, it’s not even noon and I’m already exhausted._

The sound of squeaky wheels being rolled across hardwood floors approaches, and he lifts his head to see Rosa wheeling a big whiteboard out of her room.

“Where the hell did you get that?” Hugh asks. 

“Cheren let me borrow it. He hasn’t asked for it back yet though, so it’s just been sitting in my room. Anyways.” 

She uncaps a black marker and writes across the top: Rosa’s Fantastic, Fool-proof Plan to Get Hugh a Hot Date.

“You’re so weird,” Hugh mutters. 

“Says the guy who takes hair styling inspiration from Sandslash.” Rosa turns to face him. “Okay. We need to come up with some ideas and potential options for how you could ask Nate out.”

“Wait, I have to _ask him out?”_

Rosa lets her arm drop to her side. “How are you expecting this to go?” She lowers her voice to imitate him. “‘Nate, uh, as much as I’m emotionally stunted and unable to express how I feel in any way that makes sense, I wanted to let you know that I think we should kiss. Anyways, goodnight I have training in the morning’.”

“First of all, I don’t sound like that—”

“C’mon that was spot on!” Stoutland lets out a deep bark. “See? He agrees with me.”

“—and secondly I would never say that.”

“Which part?”

“All of it.” Rosa stares hard at him. “Okay maybe I would say the last sentence, but the rest of it is totally unrealistic.”

“So, you don’t want to tell him straight up like that.”

“Pfft.” Hugh rests his arm on the back of the couch. “Rosa, babe, there’s nothing straight about me.”

Rosa shakes her head and writes “Big chicken” on the board. “What about an interpretive dance?”

Hugh glares at her. “You’re joking.”

“Obviously. If saving Unova had been dependent on you and Nate’s ability to dance, we’d all be dead.” 

“Some of us didn’t do ballet our entire childhood. Some of us were doing _cool_ things. Like raising Pokémon.”

“Irrelevant.” Rosa taps the marker against the side of her face. “So, it has to be something clear and direct, because Nate’s kind of a dummy and won’t pick up on it if you’re too subtle. But, we don’t want to scare him off by being too in his face.”

“What if instead of saying anything, I support Nate’s feelings for Yancy and if I’m lucky, he’ll ask me to be his best man at their wedding?”

Rosa wrinkles her nose. “We’ll think of something. We’ve got to.”

  


__

* * *

  


A lunch break, a short walk with Stoutland, and a list of increasingly ludicrous ideas later, Rosa flops down onto the couch next to Hugh.

“You’re hopeless,” she says, absentmindedly stroking Stoutland’s back. “How am I supposed to get you a Hot Date when you won’t agree to anything?”

“It’s not my fault your suggestions are crazy.”

“At least I’m trying. If it weren’t for me you’d be moping around the city like a sad Lillipup.”

Hugh rubs his hands over his face. “What if I just texted him?”

“Wait a minute,” Rosa says, energy creeping back into her voice. “That’s it!”

Hugh lowers his hands, perplexed. “You think the best plan is to text him?”

“What? Of course not. Write him a love letter!” Her eyes light up and she hops off the couch with newfound determination. Stoutland does the same, tail wagging so fast it’s merely a small, black blur. “It’s the best way for you to tell him directly without having to actually _say_ it!”

“I dunno…” Hugh rubs the back of his neck.

“Aw c’mon Hugh! Think about it. You don’t have to worry about tripping over your words, there won’t be any awkward pauses as you scramble to think of things to say, and you can go back and edit if things don’t sound right.” 

“I guess you’re right,” Hugh says, still sounding hesitant. 

“Well, it’s either that or…” Their gazes drift to the whiteboard full of useless ideas, one of which includes asking Skyla to skywrite a message for them.

Hugh shudders. 

“I admit I might’ve gone a _little_ overboard,” Rosa says. “But listen, you can totally do this. You’re passionate, driven, caring. A real firecracker, some might say. What’s not to love about you?”

“Yeah.” Hugh nods, latching onto Rosa’s contagious confidence. “You’re right.” He feels his resolve kicking in, lighting a spark inside of him. “I mean, how hard could writing a love letter possibly be?”

  


__

* * *

  


Hugh startles when Rosa bursts into his room. “What the—”

“It’s been two days, Hugh. Two. Days. I haven’t heard a word from you. And it turns out you’re here, sulking in bed, instead of whisking Nate off on the date of a lifetime.”

“How’d you get in here?”

“Your sister let me in.”

“Of course she did.” Hugh rolls over to face the wall. “Nate didn’t respond to my love letter.”

Rosa peeks over his shoulder. “Well, I’m not surprised,” she scoffs, snatching the piece of paper out of his hand. “Who starts a love letter with ‘Yo dude’?” 

Hugh tries to grab the paper from her, but she spins away, dodging him with a surprising amount of grace. “I wanted it to sound real!”

“‘Yo dude’,” Rosa reads, “‘I think you’re really cool and I like battling you. We should do it more. Hugh.’” She glances up at him, a mixture of disbelief and disgust on her face. “Hugh.”

“What!” Hugh crosses his arms tightly over his chest. “I did my best.” 

“You most certainly did not.” She waves the letter for emphasis. “What were you even going for here? Who were you trying to impress? You didn’t even write this on nice paper — this is loose leaf!” 

Hugh finally succeeds in retrieving the paper. “What do you want from me? I said he was cool. I implied with the battling thing that I wanted to spend more time with him. I might as well have proposed!”

“This is the worst attempt at romancing someone I’ve ever seen, and that’s coming from me.” Rosa picks up one of the Poké Balls on Hugh’s desk and presses the button, releasing Emboar.

Emboar scans the area for an opponent, slightly confused when he finds none.

“Emboar, do me a favor and dispose of this,” Rosa says, handing the paper to him. He raises his fist to his flaming beard. “Thank you, my good sir. Now, would you kindly motivate Hugh to get out of bed?”

Emboar crosses over to Hugh’s bed and squats in front of it. Hugh cranes his neck to see Emboar staring at him with huge, round, pleading eyes. After a moment, he feels a smile growing, despite his frustration. 

“I love you too buddy,” Hugh says, rolling back over. He pats Emboar’s head, avoiding the flames, and gets to his feet.

“Have you eaten yet today?” Rosa asks.

Hugh glances at his alarm clock. “Um.”

“Let’s go to Nimbasa City. A new noodle place opened up and I want to try it.” Rosa starts for the door, a pleased look on her face. “My treat.”

  


__

* * *

  


“Here’s the dealio,” Rosa says, slurping her noodles. “I think that trying to do this in a fancy, elaborate way is not gonna work. It’s not your style at all. That was made evident today.”

Hugh shoots her a look over his bowl.

“I know you’re not gonna like this, but I think you should just tell him.”

“But—”

“Hear me out. You’re blunt. You always have been, for better or for worse. And you’re headstrong. You and Nate are doers, not thinkers. That’s reserved for me.” She smirks. “Overthinking is going to be the death of you.”

Hugh stares at his bowl, pushing his food around with his spoon. “Rosa, I’m nervous.”

“I know,” she says, in a gentle tone. “That’s because this is scary. But you know what else is scary? Watching someone you really like fall for someone else and being tormented by what ifs.”

“What if.” Hugh’s grip on his spoon tightens. “What if it doesn’t go well?”

“It will.”

Hugh looks up at her, a quizzical frown on his face. “How do you know?”

She blinks innocuously at him. “I know things.”

“And what if it doesn’t?”

“Well,” she reaches across the table and takes Hugh’s free hand, “if it goes terribly, I promise to throw you a kick-ass funeral.”

  


__

* * *

  


Hugh takes a deep breath and gazes out over the Aspertia City Outlook.

“Nate, I have something to tell you,” he says over the pounding of his heart. “As you know, you and Rosa are my best friends and I value our friendship above almost anything else, but I wanted to let you know that I… have feelings for you— romantic feelings.” He holds his hands up. “If you don’t feel the same way about me, we can just forget about this and never talk about it again. I don’t want to lose you as a friend, and nothing will matter more than having you in my life.” He leans back against the railing. “How’s that sound?”

Emboar blinks at him, snorting out a few embers that drift away with the wind. 

“It was bad, wasn’t it?” Hugh says. “Oh Arceus, what if this is a terrible idea? I let myself get wrapped up in one of Rosa’s crazy schemes and—”

“Hey!” Nate yells, jogging up the stairs. Hugh’s heart stops. “I got your text! There’s something important you wanted to tell me?”

He stares at Hugh, who’s gone completely frozen. 

_Overthinking is going to be the death of you,_ Hugh hears Rosa’s voice in his head. _Just say it!_

“I like you,” Hugh blurts out, everything he’d been planning on saying flying straight out the window. 

Nate’s face softens into a bright smile, though he still appears mildly confused. “I like you too.” 

“No. I mean.” Hugh pinches the bridge of his nose. “I like you, like, more than a friend.” 

Nate threads his fingers through Hugh’s, lightly squeezing his hand. “I know.”

Hugh’s eyes fly open. “You do?”

“Yeah. Your love letter kinda threw me for a loop, but I thought about it later and I realized that you had basically asked me to marry you.”

A million thoughts stampede through Hugh’s head, questions fighting to be asked. “Why… why didn’t you say anything?”

“You didn’t give me time to,” Nate says, eyes sparkling. “All I could say was ‘Um’ before you took the paper and ran. If you’d’ve stayed, I would’ve told you that I liked you too.” 

“Oh,” Hugh utters, feeling slightly lightheaded. “Cool.”

The corners of Nate’s eyes crinkle as his smile stretches wider. “I heard Touya’s doing a new musical in Nimbasa tomorrow night. Do you want to go see it with me?”

“Uh.” He glances over Nate’s shoulder to see Emboar watching him expectantly. “I’d love to.” 

“Awesome.” Nate bites his lip and he’s so cute Hugh could explode on the spot. “You had me really worried.”

“Why?” 

“Um, because you ran like a Swoobat out of hell and then I didn’t hear anything from you for a couple of days, and the first thing you text me is that you had something really important to talk about.” 

“Oh.” Hugh can feel himself blushing. “Sorry.” 

“I was trying to give you space, so I’m glad you’re okay.” Nate’s Xtransceiver beeps and he pulls it out of his pocket. “Ah, I gotta go. Alder’s paying me to babysit his sick Accelgor and make sure it stays wrapped up.” He leans in and kisses Hugh’s cheek. “See you tomorrow!” 

He races down the steps and out of sight. 

Hugh stands rooted to the spot, half in a daze. He brings his hand up to touch his cheek and finds it warm to the touch. 

_Huh,_ he thinks. _I guess Rosa was right after all._

  


__

* * *

  


He finds her combing the Flaaffy at Floccesy Ranch, where this all started. Her Pokémon are scattered throughout the ranch. Serperior and the others are playing with the herds of Mareep and Flaaffy, Mandibuzz napping in the shade of the large trees. 

“Hey,” she says, not even flinching when the gate behind her latches shut. “How’d it go?” 

“Nate and I are going out tomorrow night,” he says, still processing everything that just happened. 

Rosa doesn’t seem fazed, but her mouth twists like she’s holding back a smile. “Good for you. It’s about time.”

“Rosa,” Hugh says slowly, like he’s piecing together a puzzle. “When I told you that Nate liked Yancy, you didn’t even question it.”

“So?”

Hugh shakes his head. “We’ve been best friends since we could talk. I know you would’ve asked me why I thought that. Which means… Nate never liked Yancy like that, did he?”

Rosa maintains her innocent facade for a beat longer, then grins like the Purrloin that ate the Pidove. “I’d already figured out a while ago that you two liked each other, but neither of you were going to do anything about it because you’re both ridiculous. So, when you came to me with your imaginary dilemma, I figured it was the perfect chance to get one of you to finally make a move.”

Hugh narrows his eyes, but there’s no real heat in his glare. “I can’t believe you.”

She shrugs, her grin stretching wider. “Hey, it worked, didn’t it?” 

“You really let me worry like that.” 

She sets the brush down and looks over her shoulder at him. “Hugh, you wouldn’t have believed me if I’d told you. Also, I thought you should hear it from him, not me.”

Hugh sits down next to her in the grass. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“Careful,” Rosa says, pushing Flaaffy wool away from him. “This stuff’s full of static electricity. Don’t want you to get electrocuted before your big date. That’s why they make me wear these bad boys.” She wiggles her floral rubber-gloved fingers. 

After a beat, she tilts her head to the side. “You look really happy,” she says, her voice full of warmth. “Did you guys kiss?”

“N-no! Kinda. He… he kissed me on the cheek.” 

“Aww. My best friends, falling in love with each other.” Seismitoad ambles over. “Hiya bud. You wanna sit with us?” 

“Seis,” he croaks. When he drops into the grass, the ground rumbles. 

“So,” she says, refocusing her attention on Hugh, “besides going to the musical, are you gonna do anything else?”

“Uhh, I’m not sure.”

“Do you know what you’re going to wear?”

Hugh stares blankly at her. “Am I supposed to dress up?”

Rosa shakes her head. “Boys, what are they good for, eh Seismitoad?” She gets up, brushing the grass off her leggings. “Of course you have to dress up.” She paces back and forth, deep in thought. “And since you’re going to be in Nimbasa City, the Ferris wheel is right there…”

“Rosa—”

He knows deep in his heart that it’s too late. She’s already got the scheming look on her face, and a glint in her eyes. 

“Listen Hugh. You might’ve overcome this challenge, but we’re hardly out of the woods yet. This is the First Date. It’s a big deal, right Seismitoad?”

“Toad!” 

She comes to a slow stop, squaring her body to Hugh. “If we want this to go as seamlessly as possible then it’s time to break out the white board for” — she pauses for dramatic effect — “Rosa’s Fantastic Fool-Proof Plan on Nailing the First Date.”

**Author's Note:**

> ok ngl this was super fun to write??? i feel like they’re the embodiment of friends who share one brain cell and honestly good for them
> 
> this has been in my google docs forever and for some reason i find that when i’m stuck with writing, writing a pokémon fic is literally like hitting a reset button. it’s really fun for me to revisit all these old ideas i have, and there’s some fun fics i’m really tempted to keep working on. i'm sure they’ll turn up eventually :P 
> 
> if there are any errors i'll catch and fix them later
> 
> comments/kudos/bookmarks are always appreciated! :)


End file.
